Few things are more infuriating to consumers than the constant, surging increases in drug prices. Americans under 65 are projected to pay an additional 11.6% this year, while seniors are expected to see increases of 9.9%. These increases follow similar ones in recent years.

Price hikes like these, which run well above inflation and wage growth year after year, are a keen indication of how the drug industry lacks market fundamentals. Or, as President Trump put it Monday, prescription drug prices "are out of control" and the big pharmaceutical companies "are getting away with murder."

This has happened in some cases because generic drug makers have begun to act like the name-brand producers they were supposed to compete with. Mylan, for instance, is a generic drug maker. It is also the company that bought the EpiPen auto-injector and jacked up its prices to obscene levels.

Mostly, it is the result of brand-name drug companies using ploys to keep generics off the market.

One favored technique is to simply pay generic makers to keep their products out of drugstores. These “pay to delay” schemes are often embedded in some kind of legal dispute designed to obscure the wildly anti-competitive nature of the deal.

Another tactic is for branded drug makers to make minor tweaks to their products to claim whole new patents.

But perhaps the most novel ruse involves preventing generic drug makers from getting access to doses of branded drugs they need to run tests. Generic makers need roughly 5,000 doses of branded drugs to show that their products are truly equivalent.

The Food and Drug Administration has received approximately 150 letters sent by companies complaining about access to the doses they need. About half of these involve branded drug makers claiming that the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies, an FDA-required process designed to promote drug safety, prohibits them from providing doses.

As the result of this infuriating tactic, patients, insurance companies and the federal government pay an additional $5.4 billion annually on drugs, according to a study by Matrix Global Advisors for the Generic Pharmaceutical Association.

Drug makers “game the system and game the rules,” FDA administrator Scott Gottlieb said during a recent visit with USA TODAY's Editorial Board.

Government agencies can and should be more aggressive in fighting off these schemes. Gottlieb said the FDA will fight harder to get generics on the market. And the Federal Trade Commission is stepping up its efforts to combat blatantly anti-competitive practices.

These steps will help. An even fuller solution is to give big buyers more leverage in negotiating prices, starting with the federal government's purchase of drugs for Medicare.

That, however, would require Congress to shake its addiction to campaign contributions and put patients ahead of Big Pharma.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.